Euros on the Tube: New cash machines in 70 London Underground stations will dispense single currency as well pounds

Travellers will soon find they can't buy a ticket from a manned ticket office on the London Underground - but they will be able to get some foreign currency.

Cash machines that dispense both sterling and euros have been installed in 70 Tube stations thanks to a deal between Raphaels Bank and Transport for London.

Passengers can now withdraw the single currency at major interchanges such as Waterloo, London Bridge, Victoria and King's Cross-St Pancras, with Raphaels expecting demand from time-strapped travellers on their way to airports and the Eurostar.

Ticket offices may be closing on the London Underground - but at least you can get euros now.

But will it prove a cheap way for Brits to buy their holiday cash?

The rate today at Raphaels' euro ATMs was €1.205: marginally better than the 1.19 on offer at High Street bank bureaux and comparable to M&S but less than the 1.23 available on pre-ordered services at Tesco, Debenhams and Sainsburys.

And considerably lower than the 1.245 offered by specialist forex providers like Best Foreign Exchange and Thomas, which have several branches across the capital.

A pound and euro-dispensing cash machine run by Raphaels.

Holidaymakers who normally wait to withdraw euros from cash machines on the continent could well save by not incurring an overseas charge from their debit card provider.

Raphaels said that it 'doesn’t have direct relationships with the issuing banks but acquire the transactions via the Link, Visa and MasterCard schemes'.

'While Raphaels has no control over the way an issuer treats the transaction,' it added, 'the transaction definitely wouldn’t be treated as overseas and in general Raphaels doesn’t expect UK debit card holders to incur any fees from their issuer but could not guarantee it.'

But what travellers save on the ATM charge might be lost on the exchange rate if their bank's euro rate is significantly better than Raphaels'. Sterling withdrawals are free.

The new ATMs are the latest move in TFL's drive to revamp and 're-purpose' its Tube stations. TfL said the project is 'part of its work to modernise and improve the services available to customers across the transport network'.

Bombshell plans by TfL to shut 260 Tube ticket offices and cut 960 jobs prompted strikes this year that crippled the Tube network.

As the dispute rumbles on, Tesco and
Waitrose will begin 'click and collect' services on the Underground,
enabling commuters to pick up online purchases from underground
stations.

TfL has
also been in talks with InPost to provide lockers for parcel delivery
services for multiple retailers, as well as supermarket chain Asda,
which began click and collect services at stations in November 2013 and
are now in talks about extending the service.

Raphaels - a boutique bank based in London - said that research had found only 62 per cent of travellers bought currency in advance of their holidays.

It added the service would 'make it easier for busy London workers, commuters and residents to be able to get their cash for local use as well as trips abroad'.

Raphaels already has 26 dual-currency cash machines in tourist hotpsots around the capital, like Tower Hill.